Summary- Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson establishing numerous schools in Pakistan after a failed K2 climb. Written by David Oliver Relin, the author was amazed at how Dr. Mortenson, as he is known in Pakistan, draws people to him and is able to achieve results and influence others. He attributes it to the mans determination and all that Mortenson accomplished in helping to create peaceful relations stunned him and for that reason he is working with Mortenson to write the story. In 1993, Mortenson attempted a K2 climb, in order to place his sister's necklace on its peak. Christa had suffered severe meningitis and then never recovered, often suffering from seizures and struggling to do even menial tasks. Mortenson always encouraged his sister and did his best to give her a chance towards normalcy, but she eventually died of a massive seizure. A climber since birth and a very large, bearish, and determined indiviudal, Mortenson decided to climb K2. However, his dreams were dashed when another climbers life became endangered. After doing countless supply runs, Mortenson was exhausted when a distress call came in from another climber, who had been attempting the summit. Mortenson and another had to go rescue him and return him to a low enough altitude, but the effort and altitude completely exhausted them, stripping them of strenght and prohibiting them from continuing. On their way back down from K2, Mortenson, his mind and boyd dulled from exhaustion and the altitude, wandered from the path and became lost. After spending the night alone and cold on the glacier with only melted glacier water and a frozen protein bar to sustain him, Mortenson brain cleared slihtly and he attmepted to retrace his steps, eventually finding the path and meeting up with his porter Mousafer, who had all of his supplies. The Balti man took care of Mortenson nad continued to guide him back to Askole where Mortenson was to meet up with his climbing partner. However, just before Askole, there was a bridge he needed to cross. Instead, attracted by the trees he stayed on the wrong side of the river. Mousafer had gone on ahead to Askole and before Mortenson knew it, he was in the village of Korphe. He was the first foreigner ever to visit there and a huge object of interest. He was treated with extreme honor, given sugary tea for breakfast, a very precious commodity to the people, and wrapped the chief's finest possesion for the night. Through the Balti taugh him by Mousafer, Mortenson was able to communicate with the people and realized his mistake. However, the people said not to worry and Mousafer was brought to the village with all of Mortenson's supplies. Mortenson then traveled to Askole, but after a brief stay, he decided there was something calling him back to the village and he returned. He felt indebted towards the poeple for all they had done to him and gave out his coats, nalgene bottles, and other supplies, but perhaps most importantly, he was a trained nurse and was able to provide much needed medical care to the natives and soon became known as Dr. Greg. One day, he decided he wanted to see the school. When he discovered the children did not even have a school-building and were required to share a teacher with another village, a problem which would only cost the government a dollar a day to remedy, he was appaled and immediately promised the chief Haji Ali that he would build a school.
Education is a big issue around the world. In the United States there are even huge issues about how our education is underfunded and the program needs to be improved. Overcrowding, out of date equipment and buildings, lack of teachers, poor nutrition, the list is endless. Taking a look at Pakistan however, it seems like we shouldn't have a problem at all. The fact that kids can even go to a building for school and expect to have a teacher there is commonplace for us, but in a lot of countries, such as Pakistan, those things are only hoped for. There is an estimated 121 million children without the privelege of education worldwide. The number without adequate education is far larger, as many children only recieve the rudimentary elements of an education, such as the children in this book.
Our lives are so drastically different from those living in Pakistan it is unbelievable. Many of us don't give a thought of doling out 4 dollars for lunch at the cafe, when halfway across the world, men are eager to carry nearly 100 pounds worth of gear and equipment and guide people through treacherous terrain for the same sum. The mountain dew you get from the drink machine could be used to supply a village with a teacher. Our lives are worlds apart.
Discussion Director through Chapter 6
Summary- Mortenson returns to California from Pakistan and this section begins with him returning to his storage bin, where he always goes to reconnect himself. There he has a flashback of his childhood. He was born in America, but he and his family moved to Tanzania when he was only 3 months old. They lived in a nice house with a coutyard dominated by a huge pepper tree and he says his childhood was paradise. There his father established a learning hospital for the African's that today, as according to his dream, is run by Africans and is the most succesful in the area. His mohter established an international school, which taugh expatriates children, and Greg attended there. He was in a cultural melting pot with kids from 28 different countries and spoke perfect Swahili while singing archaic European hymns, and for the most part was oblivious to race. He first climbed Kilimanjaro when he was 11, and though he hated the climb, standing on the summit had him hooked.After the school and hospital were well established, the Mortenson's returned to America. Greg felt out of place in school because he had grown up oblivious to race and speaking Swahili and the kids were told he was from Africa. It resulted in one event of a basketball player and his cronies bullying him. However, he excelled in his classes and soon became a key player on the football team, causing other kids to respect him if not exactly forging friendships. Their family had little money, and as a result, he signed up for the military in order to get an education and he quickly excelled, even being awarded the Army Commendation Medal. He then turned his attention to college, when his father was diagnosed with cancer. After his father died and he had his degree in nursing and chemistry, he began to help Christa more who was suffering more from seizures and began a grad progam to see if he could discover his cure. He realized it was useless however, and soon felt the call of the mountains again and he became a mountain climbing junky for the next three years. When Christa died, that was when he decided to go climb K2 after receiving an invite to be an expedition medic. Mortenson begins trying to raise funds for his school. He rented out typewrites and tried to write letters to famous and wealthy people, but had serious trouble typing and made slow going, also not knowing what exactly to say. In order to save money, he lived out of his car La Bamba, and worked at the ER. There he met a women named Marina, who completely had him entranced. Later, they finally began to go out on dates and go climbing and Mortenson felt like he had a family. Marina started to get slightly disenchanted by his frugality though, as he was unwilling to indulge lest it hinder his cause. Mortenson was completely computer illiterate when he stumbled across a Pakistani, who learnig of his mission, educated him all about microsoft word and cut and paste, allowing Mortenson to quickly finish his letters, 580 in total and the men became friends. Of all his letters, only one was answered with a $100 check, Mortenson needed $12,000. He did get some aid from his mother, whose students did a penny drive and raised over $600, but he was still way short. A fellow climber and doctor in the ER one day alerted Mortenson that some man was interested in his cause. It turns out the man was a genius from silicon valley, and extremely rich and eccentric. After, deciding Mortenson wasn't a drug addict and hearing that it would only cost $12,000, Dr. Jean Hoerni gave over a check, fully supplying Mortenson. Mortenson then sold all his possesions including his car and climbing gear and boared a plane for Pakistan, promising Marina a better and more serious life when he got back. In the capital of Islamabad, the man he was staying with helped him to secure all the needed materials and architectural plans for his project. This was done through days of negotiating over countless cups of tea. During this time, Mortenson learned more about the Pakistani culture, learning to pray and some of the rules of societies
Essential Question- I think without Mortenson's childhood and background, he would not have been as likely to do what he did in Pakistan. Being raised by two very humanitarian parents, who's life missions were dedicated to helping others, must have had a huge impact on him. Also, from a young age, Mortenson was protective of others, especially Christa, because he was much larger and stronger and always wanted to help. However, his actions can't be based solely on what happened to him. Many people would have reacted quite differently to the situations and turned out quite differently from Mortenson. The mans inherent personality, his determination, kindness, and complete selflessness and modesty make him someone who simply desires to do good and I believe no matter how his life turned out, he would have done something to make history and help others. It is simply the kind of person he is. His projects in Pakistan are simply on a grander scale allowing for more recognition, but the man had been doing similar things his whole life, for example providing medical care and taking care of his sister.
Discussion- 1. How do you think Mortenson's childhood experiences shaped him for his future?
2. What trait does Mortenson show forth again and again? How does this make him the person he is and affect his successes?
3. People who talked with Mortenson face to face, always seemed to end up helping him. For example Sayed, the man who taugh him how tuse a computer, and the men he bargained with for supplies in Pakistan. Why do you think this? What is it in his personality that allows him to be so accepted?
4. Mortenson asked for plain brown robes instead of beautiful, colored ones. Why?
5. Mortenson was very interested in learning the peoples culture, even venturing as far as to learn how to pray. How does this affect how he is treated?
6. Did you think Mortenson was going to get the funds? What were your thoughts about this whole section?
Passage Master through Chapter 10
Summary- Mortenson is trucking all the supplies for the school to Skardu where a man named Changazi is to organize getting them trekked to Korphe. However, upon arrival, Mortenson meets the cook who supplied all his meals for the K2 attempt and is invited to the village. At the vilalge there is a great feast set up so he feels compelled to come but when he arrives the cheif tries to say that Mortenson promised to build a school there and later Changazi has transported the supplies to his village and tells Mortenson he must build the school at his village. They completely ignore the poor man who has worked so hard and simply argue amongst themselves as to who should get the school. Finally, Mortenson has had enough and gets the supplies down to Korphe. However, he is told there that first a bridge must be built, because otherwise there is no way to get the materials across the river Braldu. In seemin defeat, Mortenson reutnrs home where he discovers he has lost his job at the ER and Marina is seeing someone else. He finds a new job and fights to overcome everything that is seemingly overwhelming him. One day he gets a call from another famous climber, who tells him to pull it together and ask Hoerni for the funds, he had been too initmated previously to do so. Reinvigorated Mortenson is given the check by Hoerni and is soon back in Korphe with plans and supplies for a bridge. Soon construction is underway and before you know it hte bridge is complete. While there, Mortenson is invited to go hunt for an ibex and the group succesfully brings one down. In the process they find the bleached carcass of another ibex, and he is given the skull and horns for a present.
Essential Question- From this section of reading, all the evidence seems to point towards great individuals creating history. In the previous chapters, we could argue that Mortenson's upbring and childhood prepared and shaped him quite a bit for his future humanitarian efforts and caused him to be the helpful person he is. More and and more though, it seems like thats just the person he is, and events good or bad are not going to deter him. In this section he ran into difficulty after difficulty. First with the Pakistani's trying to get him to come to their village instead, then the news he had to build a bridge, his temporary loss of job and being dumped by his girlfriend, the list goes on and on. Instead, this amazing induvidual continues to persevere and never give up. He pulls himself together, gets funds for the bridge, remains true to his goal, and soon is seeing remarkable success in the village of Korphe. If it were true that history makes the individuals, we would expect to see an entirely different sort of events. Things going smoothly, but instead, Mortenson's successes can only be contributed to his perpetual hardwork and unbending determination.
Passages
pg 86 "Very Near," Akhmalu countered. "Only three or seven hours." I thought this passage was appropriate because it shows how different life in Baltistan is with the terrain and everything is just so rugged. and Pg 110 top, the customs are so radically different, this idea of tempoaray and multiple marriages are just so foreign, but commonplace in Pakistan
Pg 86 2nd paragraph, this just shows Mortenson spirit, he does whatever he can to be kind and helpful to others even when it inconveniences him
Bottom of Pg 88, middle of Pg 93, Pg 95 2nd from bottom, Pg 111 middle. All these passages are about Mortenson being taken advantage of. The men fighting over whose village should get the school, as if he hadn't already decided and it wasn't his choice, the child hoping for money and throwing away the apple that was given, the passage on 95 sums it up perfectly, Mortenson was an opportunity for these people and they were doing whatever they could to take advantage of him because to them he seemed so rich and powerful, when really he has little to nothing
Pg 94, bottom, Pg 102 bottom These passages again show Mortenson's character. Even when these poeple are giving him such a hard time, here he is teaching the children and when hes at the bottom of well he is doing his best to help others at the hospital, it amazes me
Pg 109 para 5, Again this paragraph justs contrasts so much the life in America and Pakistan, it seems ludicrous, even heinous that some people can just burn up money on luxury that could do so much for people with nothing on the other side of the world
I have too many good ones so ill stop here
Researcher through Chapter 13
Marina became disenchanted with Mario and tried to hook back up with Greg, but he truned her down saying hte door was closed. Hoerni invited him up to his place and there they talked and got to know each other well as Mortenson showed him the pictures and plans of the bridge and school. He was then invited to an American Himalayan Association event where SIr Edmund Hillary was to speak. McGown and Hoerni were discussing Mortenson's financial situation, and decided to give Mortenson 20k a year for his personal finances. Mortenson was inspired by the mans speech about building schools and helping others and began to get up and pace, ready to be off to Pakistan, when a woman approached him. Her name was Tara Bishop and they hit it off immediately. Six days laters they were married, Mortenson postponed his flight to Pakistan three times in all in order to spend time with his new wife, but eventuaqlly decided he had to go, Initially he ran into difficulty in Pakistan trying to secure his supples fom Changazi, who was away and left the supplies guarded and under lock and key. However, with the help Ghulam Parvi,, a man who had served as the director of the Social Welfare Association Baltistan he ogt his supplies, though some were missing, pilfered by Changazi. Upon his arrival in Korphe he learned more of the culture. Discussing weddings with Twaha, who told how usually htey were major ordeals of the woman not wanting to leave her family, as marriages were often arranged and negotiated with a bride price. He also went ot the mosque and realized he was praying as taught by the tailor in the sunni manner, in the middle of a very much so shiite area. Before construction was began on the school, they sacrificed a huge ram to honor and sanctify it all and had a huge feast. Mortenson was very impatient and anxious but, Haji Ali simply said Korphe had been w/o a school for six hundred years, what was one more winter. That winter he and Tara spent Thanksgiving iwth Hoerni and later Tara became pregnant. Thjey visited Tara;s mom and Mortenson fell in love w/ the country and decided they needed to move out of the smoke-filled room he lived in, so they moved to Montana. He then returned to Korphe, hiring his old porter Mousafer to come and help and became caught up feverishly in overseeeing hte construction. Haji Ali took him away and took his tools and sat him down and drank three cups of tea, signifiying he was part of the family, and teaching Mortenson the importance of patience. The leader of Askole came and tried to stop the school from being built or collect payment and Haji Ali willingly gave 12 finest rams, basically half the vilalges wealth in order to have education. Mortenson had been offered earlier by Horni a permamnent job as the director of a foundation to build schools throughout Pakistan. Mortensons became the director of the Central Asia Institue. He was now back in Pakistan looking for another place to build a school. He had read about a people called the Waziri, which had the same reputation as the Balti of being rough and inhospitable to outsiders, which through experience he learned wasn;t true, and so believed was another misunderstanding and wanted to help them. He travelled down to their homeland and was rather nervous when he found himself in the middle of what was clearly a very militant and well-organized area of illegal trades. He ofund the leader an everything seemed to be well, he was invited in and ate supper and given a bed. However, in the middle of the night he was forcibly blindoflded and dragged to a truck and riven several hours to a nother location where he was locked in a room for days. He didn;t know the peoples language and had no way of communicating when suddenly a man wo spoke english came in and they talked and suddenly he was in a truck again. He thought he was to be shot hearing a bunch of gunfire but when the blindfold was removed it was the waziris celebrating, they all approached him giving him money and embracing him, saying htey wanted a school.
Essential Question- i still believe it is the person responsible for the history. Certainly circumstances play a big role, its kind of like a fire. The wood can sit there all day, but without a flame, its not going to burn. For example, the Waziris had been there without education for hundreds of years, just sitting there. But, through Mortensons actions and his influence things happened. Without him, none of the above events would ever have happened. Similarly it was Haji Ali's decision to give the twelve rams rahter than risk the school. History is dictated by the actions of individuals. Circumstances are nearly the fodder and by-products for them.
Research- The American Himalayan Association, http://www.himalayan-foundation.org/, is a foundation dedicated to helping the people and the ecology in the Himalyas. They work to provide schools, hospitals, doctors, training, etc. and work with the poeple to maintain their culture. They also work to protect the environemnt and endangered species i nthe area, such as the snow leopard etc.
The Central Asia Institute, http://www.ikat.org/, is completely non-profit and devoted towards promoting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially girls.
The Shiities believe power is determined by birth, i.e. descendants of mohammed etc. whereas the Sunni believe the wisest leader of the strongest tribe should rule. There is a lot of contention between the two groups, even armed conflicts in a lot of areas.
Hashish comes from the cannabis plant, its pretty much their tobacco.
Dal, one of the foods Mortenson often eats, is thick stew of dried beans and lentils etc.
Connector through Chapter 15 5/13
Summary- Mortenson returned home to find his wife conversing with the midwife. She decided she wanted to have the baby at home. Tara had been terrified, even facing the possibility that Greg had been dead after not hearing from him for so long, and was delighted to see him. Their daughter was born September 13, 1996, named Amira, for female leader, Eliana, gift of god and for his late sister Christa, Mortenson. Later he got a call from a frantic Jean Hoerni. The man was desperate for news of progress on the school, making Mortenson promise to finish and get him pictures soon because he had been diagnosed with a fatal form of leukemia and only had months to live. Mortenson returned to Korphe, where even there it was unseasonably cold, which inspired him to work in a frenzy, afraid the snows would come and delay finishing the school and inhibit him from keeping his promise to Korphe. However, the first flakes didn’t fall until just as the last nail was being pounded in on December 10, 1996. While finishing the school, Haji Ali asked of Mortenson’s plans for other schools. He responded that he thought he might just hop around until he found a likely village, Ali laughed and told him he could simply summon all the village leaders and easily decide where next to build a village and allow Mortenson to move from village to village and use his previously established contacts rather than jumping around the country into foreign and unknown places. The peoples esteem of Greg was amazing, one woman who had given birth, but whose placenta had not come out and was decomposing inside her, her husband allowed Greg to reach inside her to remove it and from then on all the women blessed him. As soon as he returned home, Greg set off to Seattle with pictures for Jean Hoerni. He arrived and the pictures and tapes of the school and its children set the old mans heart at rest, he was angry at dying, but watching the children and the school he would become peaceful. He was elated, and immediately called up an old swiss friend saying, I built a school in the Karakoram Himalaya, what have you done for the past 50 years. Mortenson stayed with Hoerni acting as his nurse until the mans final days. When he finally died he passed on a little over 22k to Mortenson in his will t cover for Greg’s personal money he had used on the school and endowed 1 million to the CAI. At the funeral, where Greg gave an eulogy, he met a woman named Julia Bergman, who had seen his school on accident when stopping on a helicopter ride and the woman was determined to help, especially when she discovered that he wanted a library for korphe, and she was a librarian. Back at his house, Greg got a call one morning saying a fatwa had been declared on him. He quickly had to leave for Pakistan sooner than expected to try to sort out the problem, and because if it came itno effect it oculd prohibit him from further works, so he was desperate to build more schools. There he met with the Shia leader, Syed Abbas, and together they worked to overcome the mullah who had declared the fatwa on him and became tight allies. He also called together a group of men including Twaha, Hajia Ali, Mousafer, and others, and began formulating plans in nearby villages such Changazi’s and others. Soon 3 more schools had been built and Mortenson was flying around the Karakoram in a green jeep he had bought, delivering supplies and working to get things done. Back at Korhphe he established a vocational center for women an d seeing its positive and empowering effects, he was determined to build one wherever he built a school. Later, all his family and supports such as Julia Bergman came to Pakistan to see his schools and Korphe was finally dedicated. Everyone was amazed and Dr. Greg was revered throughout the area. One man who was caught leering at his wife was ostracized from society and the bodyguard was so enraged he beat him to a pulp and said he should’ve killed him. Finally, Greg returned home again, but he was already beginning how to fight Pakistan’s poverty.
Essential Question- Mortenson proves time and time again, that it truly is the individual that powers history. Yes, there is a little bit of evidence to the contray, for example, the drastic need for schools in Pakistan and Mortensons childhood and outside influences that have affected him, but it seems more and more that is the power of hte individual that truly drives history and change. The man declaring the fatwa upon Mortenson, he was only one man, but by that act he caused Mortenson to go into a frenzy of actibity to get schools built, not knowing how much freedom he would have to work. It was Jean Hoerni's decision to givve money to the CAI and fund Mortenson, directly influecning the building of schools in Pakistan. It is the effort of the individual that drives history, one only needs to read this book to find plenty of examples.
Connector- The importance of religion and how integrated it is in society in Pakistan is crazy. Here in the United States we don't give a whole lot of thought as to whether someone is catholic or ahteist or buddhist, religion doesn't really affect our interactions that much. but Pakistan, wow. For example, Greg and the fatwa that is declared on him. In the united states no church or religion has any sort of power to harm or prohibit a person from doing anything, but Pakistan, Islam is very important and plays a crucial role in society. Also with the idea of the different sects of Islam. There a huge conflicts between the shiites and sunni, resulting in armed conflicts and hostility all over. Here, we know nothing of it. People are persecuted because of their sexuality, or get in argumetns over political views, but religius influences are nearly absent as compared to Pakistan. Can you imagine if our country was divided up into all the different religions people follow, with set laws and regulations, it would be a nightmare. Thakfully we live in a secular society and don't have to owrry about it for the most part. Just how might Greg's task be different if it wasn;t for Islam's large influence?
Discussion Director through Chapter 19
Summary- At the beginning of chapter 16, Mortenson is traveling to hear the verdict about the fatwa. He entered the meeting fearing the worst, but instead walked away the blessing of the highest religious leaders in Iran, who praised his work and demanded no one interfere with him. Word of his approval and connection to the religious leaders spread throughout Batlistan and soon hundreds more of pleas and petitions were pouring in. Syed Abbas, the religious leader he worked with to overcome the fatwa and his good friend, worked with him to decide what villages needed help. Mortenson started developing programs to improve living conditions, fully aware that children had to survive past the age of one to even be able to enjoy a school. He began putting in pipes for clean water and training medical personnel and providing supplies for villages, which cut infant mortality rates dramatically and the overall health of the villages improved a ton. His porter Mousafer was growing old and Greg was determined to finish the school for him. Mousafer became respected for bringing the school to his people and was happy to help build it even though he was old and tired and when it was finished, he contentedly told Mortenson now he just wanted to give water to the trees, i.e. help the kids. A boy named Mohhamed Aslam Khan, son of the nurmadhar of a high mountain village, was sent off to a school down in the valley when he was young. He persevered for his people and returned educated and rather than accept a government post, he took over control of his village and was determined to repay his people for providing his education and wanted to do the same for them. He got roads built to the village and even a small schoolhouse, but it was only for girls. He heard of Mortenson and spent a year trying to contact and meet him. Together they built a school that all the children, girls and boys could attend, and opening up the door for education for the village girls. Eye problems were huge in Northern Pakistan so Greg brought in a doctor and trained another, which helped a lot. The CAI also put a huge emphasis on the enrollment of girls in schools and began only building schools for up to the 5th grade, because the boys always left and went into the world, whereas the girls stayed and used their knowledge to help the village. The CAI organized missions to teach the teachers and create a curriculum that was completely devoid of western influences or Islamic extremism. When the India-Pakistan Kargil conflict broke out, Greg was frantic. He wanted to help all the refugees suffering from the mass bombings who forced from their homes. He arrived where the refugees were camped. An hour away from the nearest water, in the middle of nowhere with no greenery, or anything. Soon an uplift water pump was built and a green and lush community was thriving. A lot of peoples had to hide in caves in constant fear of being shelled, and watched their villages be destroyed. One group of refugees, managed to travel to where Greg had began helping, and there they are today, the girls enjoying fine schools with a well-watered and healthy community. Back home, Mortenson was giving talks trying to raise money for the CAI’s dwindling funds. Sometimes he got huge crowds, sometimes he had an audience of 3 people. Often he got small donations, occasionally it could total up to a few hundred dollars, but sometimes he got lucky and would get thousand dollar donations. The CAI was getting frustrated with him though because he spent little time communicating with them, he was either with his family or engrossed in a project and didn’t take time to manage things back home. His wife kept telling him to get some exercise as he was getting overweight and he was completely consumed with getting money to fund the projects. He was desperate to find another rich donor to replace Hoerni. However, a lot of people just took advantage of him and used him as a prop or for personal reasons and gave him nothing. He was obsessed with the situation in northern Afghanistan as the Taliban pushed people out, and he was driving everyone crazy. However, they pushed through and that winter he had a son named Khyber Bishop Mortenson. When he returned to Pakistan, Mortenson was faced with a frightening reality. AL-Quada had begun establishing its own schools, madrassas that brainwashed the young in Islamic extremism of the wahhabi sect, basically creating the next generation of terrorists. Mortenson was at his bodyguards village dedicating a school in September with George McCown. That was where they heard the news that, a village called New York had been bombed. McCown was desperate to get home. Morteson eventually arranged for him to get out, the Pakistanis were very protective of them while they were there though. Then Greg went for his customary visit with Haji Ali. However, the old man had passed away that winter and now his son Twaha was the leader.
Essential Question- In this section, I saw more of an equilibrium between the individual creating history and events influencing the individual. Mortenson continues in his own vein of making decisions that forever alter other people’s lives. His determination to help the refugees from the Kargil conflict, his efforts and influence that gained him the backing of the Islamic religious leaders, etc. Outside events play a role, for example he can’t have done this stuff if the Kargil conflict never occurred etc., but as I said in a recent post, its like wood, it won’t burn without a fire. However, with the 9/11 attacks and the wahhabbi madrassas, there is some evidence as to how history creates the individual. With news of the terrorist attack on new York, McCown was driven to depsearate measures to try and get home, driven by a need to protect his family. Similarly, the students at the madrassas were influences by their teaching to hate America and the west and become the new generation of terrorists. They did not up an decided to become terrorists, they were taken to the schools and their brainwashed by the wahhabi doctrine. As you can see, history effects the individual and vice versa. It all depends on the individual and the event happening.
Discussion Questions-
1. What do you think Mortenson would have done if the news in the red box had been different concerning the fatwa?
2. Do you think the madrassas being established will hinder Mortenson’s projects?
3. What did you think of the author using the stories of Pakistani natives and then how Mortenson entered their lives and helped them?
4. Do you think the people at CAI are unfairly critical of Mortenson? How is the stress and turmoil affecting him?
5. What did you think of his efforts back home to raise money? Do you think the CAI will be able to continue to function? How do peoples treatments of him at home and in Pakistan differ?
6. With the 9/11 attacks, how do you think Mortenson’s projects might be affected?
7. How does Haji Ali’s death and final parting message affect Mortenson?
8. How can we see more of history influencing the individual in this chapter?
Passage Master through Chapter 21 5/21
With the war in Afghanistan begun, reporters flocked like flies to a midden to the marriot in Islamabad where Mortenson usually met to conduct business with foreign investors so as to give them a place to adjust. The reporters were ging wild, publishing all sorts of stories and trying to get facts from Mortenson, who stressed again and again how education is the way to fight terrorism and most of the people are not enemies of America, but all the media wanted was news to make devils out of the Taliban leaders and paint terrible pictures of Afghanistan. Local leaders of the Taliban met daily at the hotel and one evening, Greg sat down and talked with them. They were very political in their responses regarding education and when he asked aobut the war, they though they could still avoid it. These men had education, unlike the larger leaders of the Taliban, who were often uneducated or only had a madrassa education. They were clearly proven wrong however, as soon American planes were bombing the country far and wide. When the Taliban destroyed his passport and he had to get another one, he ended up needing to go to the American embassy. When they saw all is VISAs, he was interrogated by intelligence officers thinking he was possibly located to Osama and Al-Qaeda before he was given a passport.When he returned home, the news he received was devastating. Many people lauded his efforts, but others who had read what he said to the reporters in Pakistan, clearly got the wrong message and believed all of the Muslim world to be hteir enemies and he got tons of hate-mail. However, he began doing a lot of talks and other people were very supportive and caught up in his message. One evening, he was disappointed at the small turnout, but as usual went through with it, and one of the women there was a republic congressman named Mary Bono, who then cgot him into congress and government to speak his message. Mortenson was furious with the military for the way tings were being handled in the middle-east. There were lots of civilian casualities and little was being done to help the innocent, all the resources were being used to hunt down the Taliban and innocents were suffering terribl from it. The city of Kabul was completely trashed, and there were very few functional schools, but Mortenson stepped right in and began helping out. Back in Pakistan, as anti-american sentiment increased,, he had some difficulty. One powerful village mullah destroyed one of the schools that was being built and declared a fatwa on Greg that was backed up by a local politician. Greg returned home and went straight to the government, determined to rectify the injustice done ot the innocents and redirect some of the funds to help them. The military offered him a couple million dollars, but he decided to refuse knowing that if he sided with the government, he would lose the peoples trust in the Middle East.
Essential Question- Our essential question asked if history makes the individual or the individual makes history. I honestly believe some people are born to make history, and some people are born to be influenced. For example, the principle of one of the schools in Kabul was born to make history. Through her actions, she organized schooling for the children and is a hero over there. Similarly, Mortenson is another such individual, his speeches caused waves in congress and drummed up support for his cause and his efforts in the Middle East to bring supplies and education helped thousands. Others however, let events influence them. For example, many Americans, because of 9/11 immediately became anti-muslim and hated all the Middle-East and anything to do with it as evidenced by the hate mail Greg received. Also,, the innocent civilians who are killed or lose everything because of the bombing. This thing really goes both ways, and it’s up the person to decide if they will make history, or let it make them.
Passage Master-
Bottom of Page, Last whole paragraph. I liked this passage because it shows how the Taliban and society in the Middle East simply expects women to bow down and let men trample all over them, but here is an American woman standing up for herself and totally going against everything these guys believe in and even criticizing them.
Last two whole paragraphs on 265 through top of 266. This passage is important because it really shows how the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan was really just another juicy story for the media to get ahold of spin out of control and make a good sounding story. They were all just fighting for the latest news and best cover and weren’t interested in what Mortenson had to say, they just wanted to drum up support for the war and paint the Afghan’s as villains.
Pg 267 4th paragraph. This passage is important because it talks bout the apparent lack of education in the Taliban. This one man knew what was going to happen, but hoped it could be avoided. But many of the higher ups only had madrassa educations or none whatsoever and were blissfully ignorant of how imperiled they really were and what sort of consequences their actions entailed. This passage only proves more rightly how Mortenson has said again and again that education is the key to eliminating terrorism.
Pg 272, really the whole talk with the intelligence officers, but especially the bottom middle of 272 where they ask Greg if he knows where Osama is. This passage shows just how desperate and out of control these people are. They’re snatching at anything and making wild assumptions in the hope to catch Osama, and its inhibiting their ability to make rational decisions. It seems so ludicrous that this gentle giant who is clearly well-informed and well known in the area is educating children to be terrorists. It’s kind of crazy just how America reacted to 9/11,
Top of pg 275 when Greg receives hate-mail. Once again this passage is important because it shows how easily American’s formed stereotypes and decided to wage all out war against the Middle East, lumping all Muslims and anything connected to them as terrible. It’s crazy and completely irrational, but unfortunately a true fact that probably a good half of our country is biased against these places now, even though the majority of the population has nothing to do with terrorism.
Middle 287, 2nd paragraph, taling aobut woman donating books. This passage is important because it shows the other side of the coin, that not everyone American believes every single person in the Middle East deserves to burn in hell. This woman lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks and rather than start a vendetta against the Taliban and all Muslim’s, she is donating his medical books to the impoverished and innocent doctors in Kabul to help them as they suffer from the side effects of the war.
Bottom of 288, top of 289. This part is important because it shows how our military was really just out to crush the Taliban. We preached helping to rebuild the nation, but when we went in it was wild and crazy just to hunt down and kill and just try to cover up any “collateral” damage and htats exactly the sort of thing Greg wanted to fight against the most when he went to speak to the military and congress.
3rd paragraph from bottom of 295. <mortenson decides to refuse donations from the military because he knows that in the peoples eyes, if he is connected with the American military they will lose fiath in him. He had the potential to build hundreds of schools with the money the military promised, but felt he could not accept it because, while it would be to the people’s benefit, they didn’t feel like the government was their friend after they had seen so much destruction and felt the violence of the attacks that were supposedly to kill the Taliban, but really were also hurting thousands of innocents.
Researcher to the end of the book 5/24
Summary- Greg was over in Pakistan helping a reporter to write a story about the high-altitude conflict between Pakistan and India. They were currently staying in Korphe and a meeting was going on in the town hall/residence place that Haji Ali had erected for Greg to stay in. Suddenly, in marches Twaha’s daughter Jahan and asks for money to pursue a further education in medical studies that Mortenson promised her years ago. This shows how far Greg’s work has gone for this girl to break all these traditions of men being in charge, being subservient, etc. to boldly march in and demand money and make such a bold statement as going to medical school, and when Greg tried to do it another time, she didn’t back down. Fedarko, the journalist, witnessed what Greg was doing and soon he had Greg on the front cover of 34 million copies of a magazine. Greg was inundated with positive mail and donation and soons the CAI’s dwindling bank balance had soared to over a million. Greg was elated and immediately began putting the money to work. First the CAI forced him to organize some things back home, like finally giving him a raise and renting and organizing an actual office. Then he was off to Pakistan. There he used the money to increase the salaries of the men who had helped him so often, such as Parvi, and began many new schools and even began a project to build a hostel in Skardu where girls could come and stay to get a further education with scholarship money sponsored by the CAI. He did encounter some obstacles. Some were simple and easily overcome, like one man refusing to take a lock off the school because he wanted more money. Other’s were more difficult, another attempt was made to destroy a new hemasil school and a fatwa was declared, but the shariat court overturned it and punished the agressors. Mortenson had an army general, Bhangoo helping him, who flew him all over the country, making his projects easier to manage. One day one of the generals became enraged over what the American military was doing. He and Greg discussed how the enemy is ignorance and America killing innocents was going about it all the wrong way, relationships needed to be established between the two peoples. Jahan and Tahira, the two first educated women in Baltistan, were striving along nicely. Jahan told Greg she didn’t want to just stop where she was, she asked for more money and said she was determined to open a hospital and be a “superwoman”. Mortenson was on his way to Badakshan and the Wakhan corridor, where he planned ot build schools for the horsemen he had promised years earlier. On the way there, he ment the old king of Afghanistan, who gave him his card and print and old him to present it to commander Khan. After touching down in Kabul, Greg had to drive the rest of the way, because the American’s denied him the use of a plane that was usually used to bring protein bars, ice cream, etc. to American operatives. It was a rough travel there. They were hungry most of the time as it was Ramadan, meaning there was a lot of fasting so they often missed mealtimes. First the radiator broke, but they managed to get a tow from a group of men and patched it back together. Then they were caught in the middle of an opium firefight, and he had to abandon his driver and ride in the back of a goat skin seller’s truck to the compound. There he arrived discovering he had lost the print of the king and smelling of goat skins. Seeing men driving in a jeep, where everyone else was lucky to have a mule, Greg approached them. The man driving turned out to be Commandhan Khan and when he discovered who Mortenson was, he was elated and immediately ordered a feast to be prepared. The two men began discussing schools, and Mortenson discovered there was a mountain of need to help that could very take him the rest of his life. He realized the personal sacrifice it would take and all the hard work, but he agreed and is still doing that work today.
Essential Question- Individuals are made by history and history makes individuals. Certainly some individuals cause greater waves in history while others are more content to simply let history influence them, but the two always coexist. Mortenson, because of his selfless, humanitarian, kind, personality determined to spend the rest of his life building schools for the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan and surely would have done whatever he could to accomplish that goal. However, events, such as his newfound popularity and money in America and the situation in the countries allowed him to do such a thing in the first place. There is no straight answer to this question, like most thought intensive
questions. Events and individuals influence one another to create the world and history as we know it.
Researcher-
CAI currently- 141 schools fully or partially supported
1200+ fully or partially supported teachers
School library projects
824 graduates from Porter Training Program
Teacher Training Workshops
58,000 students educated, including 40,000 girls
Women’s Education
Women’s Vocational Centers
Women’s Literacy Centers
Women’s NGO assistance and training
Infant Oral Rehydration Training
Rural Women’s Vocational Fund
Maternal health care scholarships
Eye technician scholarships
Public Health & Conservation
24+ potable water projects
Water Filtration System
3,000+ cataract eye surgery patients
Sanitation and Latrine Projects
Rural Health Care Camp
Zahir Shah- king of Afghanistan for around four decades before the Taliban came in. Many people wanted him to be reinstated as leader, but the US backed Karzai was given control instead. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Zahir_Shah
Connector Introduction through Chapter 3
Summary- Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson establishing numerous schools in Pakistan after a failed K2 climb. Written by David Oliver Relin, the author was amazed at how Dr. Mortenson, as he is known in Pakistan, draws people to him and is able to achieve results and influence others. He attributes it to the mans determination and all that Mortenson accomplished in helping to create peaceful relations stunned him and for that reason he is working with Mortenson to write the story. In 1993, Mortenson attempted a K2 climb, in order to place his sister's necklace on its peak. Christa had suffered severe meningitis and then never recovered, often suffering from seizures and struggling to do even menial tasks. Mortenson always encouraged his sister and did his best to give her a chance towards normalcy, but she eventually died of a massive seizure. A climber since birth and a very large, bearish, and determined indiviudal, Mortenson decided to climb K2. However, his dreams were dashed when another climbers life became endangered. After doing countless supply runs, Mortenson was exhausted when a distress call came in from another climber, who had been attempting the summit. Mortenson and another had to go rescue him and return him to a low enough altitude, but the effort and altitude completely exhausted them, stripping them of strenght and prohibiting them from continuing. On their way back down from K2, Mortenson, his mind and boyd dulled from exhaustion and the altitude, wandered from the path and became lost. After spending the night alone and cold on the glacier with only melted glacier water and a frozen protein bar to sustain him, Mortenson brain cleared slihtly and he attmepted to retrace his steps, eventually finding the path and meeting up with his porter Mousafer, who had all of his supplies. The Balti man took care of Mortenson nad continued to guide him back to Askole where Mortenson was to meet up with his climbing partner. However, just before Askole, there was a bridge he needed to cross. Instead, attracted by the trees he stayed on the wrong side of the river. Mousafer had gone on ahead to Askole and before Mortenson knew it, he was in the village of Korphe. He was the first foreigner ever to visit there and a huge object of interest. He was treated with extreme honor, given sugary tea for breakfast, a very precious commodity to the people, and wrapped the chief's finest possesion for the night. Through the Balti taugh him by Mousafer, Mortenson was able to communicate with the people and realized his mistake. However, the people said not to worry and Mousafer was brought to the village with all of Mortenson's supplies. Mortenson then traveled to Askole, but after a brief stay, he decided there was something calling him back to the village and he returned. He felt indebted towards the poeple for all they had done to him and gave out his coats, nalgene bottles, and other supplies, but perhaps most importantly, he was a trained nurse and was able to provide much needed medical care to the natives and soon became known as Dr. Greg. One day, he decided he wanted to see the school. When he discovered the children did not even have a school-building and were required to share a teacher with another village, a problem which would only cost the government a dollar a day to remedy, he was appaled and immediately promised the chief Haji Ali that he would build a school.
Education is a big issue around the world. In the United States there are even huge issues about how our education is underfunded and the program needs to be improved. Overcrowding, out of date equipment and buildings, lack of teachers, poor nutrition, the list is endless. Taking a look at Pakistan however, it seems like we shouldn't have a problem at all. The fact that kids can even go to a building for school and expect to have a teacher there is commonplace for us, but in a lot of countries, such as Pakistan, those things are only hoped for. There is an estimated 121 million children without the privelege of education worldwide. The number without adequate education is far larger, as many children only recieve the rudimentary elements of an education, such as the children in this book.
Our lives are so drastically different from those living in Pakistan it is unbelievable. Many of us don't give a thought of doling out 4 dollars for lunch at the cafe, when halfway across the world, men are eager to carry nearly 100 pounds worth of gear and equipment and guide people through treacherous terrain for the same sum. The mountain dew you get from the drink machine could be used to supply a village with a teacher. Our lives are worlds apart.
Discussion Director through Chapter 6
Summary- Mortenson returns to California from Pakistan and this section begins with him returning to his storage bin, where he always goes to reconnect himself. There he has a flashback of his childhood. He was born in America, but he and his family moved to Tanzania when he was only 3 months old. They lived in a nice house with a coutyard dominated by a huge pepper tree and he says his childhood was paradise. There his father established a learning hospital for the African's that today, as according to his dream, is run by Africans and is the most succesful in the area. His mohter established an international school, which taugh expatriates children, and Greg attended there. He was in a cultural melting pot with kids from 28 different countries and spoke perfect Swahili while singing archaic European hymns, and for the most part was oblivious to race. He first climbed Kilimanjaro when he was 11, and though he hated the climb, standing on the summit had him hooked.After the school and hospital were well established, the Mortenson's returned to America. Greg felt out of place in school because he had grown up oblivious to race and speaking Swahili and the kids were told he was from Africa. It resulted in one event of a basketball player and his cronies bullying him. However, he excelled in his classes and soon became a key player on the football team, causing other kids to respect him if not exactly forging friendships. Their family had little money, and as a result, he signed up for the military in order to get an education and he quickly excelled, even being awarded the Army Commendation Medal. He then turned his attention to college, when his father was diagnosed with cancer. After his father died and he had his degree in nursing and chemistry, he began to help Christa more who was suffering more from seizures and began a grad progam to see if he could discover his cure. He realized it was useless however, and soon felt the call of the mountains again and he became a mountain climbing junky for the next three years. When Christa died, that was when he decided to go climb K2 after receiving an invite to be an expedition medic. Mortenson begins trying to raise funds for his school. He rented out typewrites and tried to write letters to famous and wealthy people, but had serious trouble typing and made slow going, also not knowing what exactly to say. In order to save money, he lived out of his car La Bamba, and worked at the ER. There he met a women named Marina, who completely had him entranced. Later, they finally began to go out on dates and go climbing and Mortenson felt like he had a family. Marina started to get slightly disenchanted by his frugality though, as he was unwilling to indulge lest it hinder his cause. Mortenson was completely computer illiterate when he stumbled across a Pakistani, who learnig of his mission, educated him all about microsoft word and cut and paste, allowing Mortenson to quickly finish his letters, 580 in total and the men became friends. Of all his letters, only one was answered with a $100 check, Mortenson needed $12,000. He did get some aid from his mother, whose students did a penny drive and raised over $600, but he was still way short. A fellow climber and doctor in the ER one day alerted Mortenson that some man was interested in his cause. It turns out the man was a genius from silicon valley, and extremely rich and eccentric. After, deciding Mortenson wasn't a drug addict and hearing that it would only cost $12,000, Dr. Jean Hoerni gave over a check, fully supplying Mortenson. Mortenson then sold all his possesions including his car and climbing gear and boared a plane for Pakistan, promising Marina a better and more serious life when he got back. In the capital of Islamabad, the man he was staying with helped him to secure all the needed materials and architectural plans for his project. This was done through days of negotiating over countless cups of tea. During this time, Mortenson learned more about the Pakistani culture, learning to pray and some of the rules of societies
Essential Question- I think without Mortenson's childhood and background, he would not have been as likely to do what he did in Pakistan. Being raised by two very humanitarian parents, who's life missions were dedicated to helping others, must have had a huge impact on him. Also, from a young age, Mortenson was protective of others, especially Christa, because he was much larger and stronger and always wanted to help. However, his actions can't be based solely on what happened to him. Many people would have reacted quite differently to the situations and turned out quite differently from Mortenson. The mans inherent personality, his determination, kindness, and complete selflessness and modesty make him someone who simply desires to do good and I believe no matter how his life turned out, he would have done something to make history and help others. It is simply the kind of person he is. His projects in Pakistan are simply on a grander scale allowing for more recognition, but the man had been doing similar things his whole life, for example providing medical care and taking care of his sister.
Discussion- 1. How do you think Mortenson's childhood experiences shaped him for his future?
2. What trait does Mortenson show forth again and again? How does this make him the person he is and affect his successes?
3. People who talked with Mortenson face to face, always seemed to end up helping him. For example Sayed, the man who taugh him how tuse a computer, and the men he bargained with for supplies in Pakistan. Why do you think this? What is it in his personality that allows him to be so accepted?
4. Mortenson asked for plain brown robes instead of beautiful, colored ones. Why?
5. Mortenson was very interested in learning the peoples culture, even venturing as far as to learn how to pray. How does this affect how he is treated?
6. Did you think Mortenson was going to get the funds? What were your thoughts about this whole section?
Passage Master through Chapter 10
Summary- Mortenson is trucking all the supplies for the school to Skardu where a man named Changazi is to organize getting them trekked to Korphe. However, upon arrival, Mortenson meets the cook who supplied all his meals for the K2 attempt and is invited to the village. At the vilalge there is a great feast set up so he feels compelled to come but when he arrives the cheif tries to say that Mortenson promised to build a school there and later Changazi has transported the supplies to his village and tells Mortenson he must build the school at his village. They completely ignore the poor man who has worked so hard and simply argue amongst themselves as to who should get the school. Finally, Mortenson has had enough and gets the supplies down to Korphe. However, he is told there that first a bridge must be built, because otherwise there is no way to get the materials across the river Braldu. In seemin defeat, Mortenson reutnrs home where he discovers he has lost his job at the ER and Marina is seeing someone else. He finds a new job and fights to overcome everything that is seemingly overwhelming him. One day he gets a call from another famous climber, who tells him to pull it together and ask Hoerni for the funds, he had been too initmated previously to do so. Reinvigorated Mortenson is given the check by Hoerni and is soon back in Korphe with plans and supplies for a bridge. Soon construction is underway and before you know it hte bridge is complete. While there, Mortenson is invited to go hunt for an ibex and the group succesfully brings one down. In the process they find the bleached carcass of another ibex, and he is given the skull and horns for a present.
Essential Question- From this section of reading, all the evidence seems to point towards great individuals creating history. In the previous chapters, we could argue that Mortenson's upbring and childhood prepared and shaped him quite a bit for his future humanitarian efforts and caused him to be the helpful person he is. More and and more though, it seems like thats just the person he is, and events good or bad are not going to deter him. In this section he ran into difficulty after difficulty. First with the Pakistani's trying to get him to come to their village instead, then the news he had to build a bridge, his temporary loss of job and being dumped by his girlfriend, the list goes on and on. Instead, this amazing induvidual continues to persevere and never give up. He pulls himself together, gets funds for the bridge, remains true to his goal, and soon is seeing remarkable success in the village of Korphe. If it were true that history makes the individuals, we would expect to see an entirely different sort of events. Things going smoothly, but instead, Mortenson's successes can only be contributed to his perpetual hardwork and unbending determination.
Passages
pg 86 "Very Near," Akhmalu countered. "Only three or seven hours." I thought this passage was appropriate because it shows how different life in Baltistan is with the terrain and everything is just so rugged. and Pg 110 top, the customs are so radically different, this idea of tempoaray and multiple marriages are just so foreign, but commonplace in Pakistan
Pg 86 2nd paragraph, this just shows Mortenson spirit, he does whatever he can to be kind and helpful to others even when it inconveniences him
Bottom of Pg 88, middle of Pg 93, Pg 95 2nd from bottom, Pg 111 middle. All these passages are about Mortenson being taken advantage of. The men fighting over whose village should get the school, as if he hadn't already decided and it wasn't his choice, the child hoping for money and throwing away the apple that was given, the passage on 95 sums it up perfectly, Mortenson was an opportunity for these people and they were doing whatever they could to take advantage of him because to them he seemed so rich and powerful, when really he has little to nothing
Pg 94, bottom, Pg 102 bottom These passages again show Mortenson's character. Even when these poeple are giving him such a hard time, here he is teaching the children and when hes at the bottom of well he is doing his best to help others at the hospital, it amazes me
Pg 109 para 5, Again this paragraph justs contrasts so much the life in America and Pakistan, it seems ludicrous, even heinous that some people can just burn up money on luxury that could do so much for people with nothing on the other side of the world
I have too many good ones so ill stop here
Researcher through Chapter 13
Marina became disenchanted with Mario and tried to hook back up with Greg, but he truned her down saying hte door was closed. Hoerni invited him up to his place and there they talked and got to know each other well as Mortenson showed him the pictures and plans of the bridge and school. He was then invited to an American Himalayan Association event where SIr Edmund Hillary was to speak. McGown and Hoerni were discussing Mortenson's financial situation, and decided to give Mortenson 20k a year for his personal finances. Mortenson was inspired by the mans speech about building schools and helping others and began to get up and pace, ready to be off to Pakistan, when a woman approached him. Her name was Tara Bishop and they hit it off immediately. Six days laters they were married, Mortenson postponed his flight to Pakistan three times in all in order to spend time with his new wife, but eventuaqlly decided he had to go, Initially he ran into difficulty in Pakistan trying to secure his supples fom Changazi, who was away and left the supplies guarded and under lock and key. However, with the help Ghulam Parvi,, a man who had served as the director of the Social Welfare Association Baltistan he ogt his supplies, though some were missing, pilfered by Changazi. Upon his arrival in Korphe he learned more of the culture. Discussing weddings with Twaha, who told how usually htey were major ordeals of the woman not wanting to leave her family, as marriages were often arranged and negotiated with a bride price. He also went ot the mosque and realized he was praying as taught by the tailor in the sunni manner, in the middle of a very much so shiite area. Before construction was began on the school, they sacrificed a huge ram to honor and sanctify it all and had a huge feast. Mortenson was very impatient and anxious but, Haji Ali simply said Korphe had been w/o a school for six hundred years, what was one more winter. That winter he and Tara spent Thanksgiving iwth Hoerni and later Tara became pregnant. Thjey visited Tara;s mom and Mortenson fell in love w/ the country and decided they needed to move out of the smoke-filled room he lived in, so they moved to Montana. He then returned to Korphe, hiring his old porter Mousafer to come and help and became caught up feverishly in overseeeing hte construction. Haji Ali took him away and took his tools and sat him down and drank three cups of tea, signifiying he was part of the family, and teaching Mortenson the importance of patience. The leader of Askole came and tried to stop the school from being built or collect payment and Haji Ali willingly gave 12 finest rams, basically half the vilalges wealth in order to have education. Mortenson had been offered earlier by Horni a permamnent job as the director of a foundation to build schools throughout Pakistan. Mortensons became the director of the Central Asia Institue. He was now back in Pakistan looking for another place to build a school. He had read about a people called the Waziri, which had the same reputation as the Balti of being rough and inhospitable to outsiders, which through experience he learned wasn;t true, and so believed was another misunderstanding and wanted to help them. He travelled down to their homeland and was rather nervous when he found himself in the middle of what was clearly a very militant and well-organized area of illegal trades. He ofund the leader an everything seemed to be well, he was invited in and ate supper and given a bed. However, in the middle of the night he was forcibly blindoflded and dragged to a truck and riven several hours to a nother location where he was locked in a room for days. He didn;t know the peoples language and had no way of communicating when suddenly a man wo spoke english came in and they talked and suddenly he was in a truck again. He thought he was to be shot hearing a bunch of gunfire but when the blindfold was removed it was the waziris celebrating, they all approached him giving him money and embracing him, saying htey wanted a school.
Essential Question- i still believe it is the person responsible for the history. Certainly circumstances play a big role, its kind of like a fire. The wood can sit there all day, but without a flame, its not going to burn. For example, the Waziris had been there without education for hundreds of years, just sitting there. But, through Mortensons actions and his influence things happened. Without him, none of the above events would ever have happened. Similarly it was Haji Ali's decision to give the twelve rams rahter than risk the school. History is dictated by the actions of individuals. Circumstances are nearly the fodder and by-products for them.
Research- The American Himalayan Association, http://www.himalayan-foundation.org/, is a foundation dedicated to helping the people and the ecology in the Himalyas. They work to provide schools, hospitals, doctors, training, etc. and work with the poeple to maintain their culture. They also work to protect the environemnt and endangered species i nthe area, such as the snow leopard etc.
The Central Asia Institute, http://www.ikat.org/, is completely non-profit and devoted towards promoting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially girls.
The Shiities believe power is determined by birth, i.e. descendants of mohammed etc. whereas the Sunni believe the wisest leader of the strongest tribe should rule. There is a lot of contention between the two groups, even armed conflicts in a lot of areas.
Hashish comes from the cannabis plant, its pretty much their tobacco.
Dal, one of the foods Mortenson often eats, is thick stew of dried beans and lentils etc.
Connector through Chapter 15 5/13
Summary-
Mortenson returned home to find his wife conversing with the midwife. She decided she wanted to have the baby at home. Tara had been terrified, even facing the possibility that Greg had been dead after not hearing from him for so long, and was delighted to see him. Their daughter was born September 13, 1996, named Amira, for female leader, Eliana, gift of god and for his late sister Christa, Mortenson. Later he got a call from a frantic Jean Hoerni. The man was desperate for news of progress on the school, making Mortenson promise to finish and get him pictures soon because he had been diagnosed with a fatal form of leukemia and only had months to live. Mortenson returned to Korphe, where even there it was unseasonably cold, which inspired him to work in a frenzy, afraid the snows would come and delay finishing the school and inhibit him from keeping his promise to Korphe. However, the first flakes didn’t fall until just as the last nail was being pounded in on December 10, 1996. While finishing the school, Haji Ali asked of Mortenson’s plans for other schools. He responded that he thought he might just hop around until he found a likely village, Ali laughed and told him he could simply summon all the village leaders and easily decide where next to build a village and allow Mortenson to move from village to village and use his previously established contacts rather than jumping around the country into foreign and unknown places. The peoples esteem of Greg was amazing, one woman who had given birth, but whose placenta had not come out and was decomposing inside her, her husband allowed Greg to reach inside her to remove it and from then on all the women blessed him. As soon as he returned home, Greg set off to Seattle with pictures for Jean Hoerni. He arrived and the pictures and tapes of the school and its children set the old mans heart at rest, he was angry at dying, but watching the children and the school he would become peaceful. He was elated, and immediately called up an old swiss friend saying, I built a school in the Karakoram Himalaya, what have you done for the past 50 years. Mortenson stayed with Hoerni acting as his nurse until the mans final days. When he finally died he passed on a little over 22k to Mortenson in his will t cover for Greg’s personal money he had used on the school and endowed 1 million to the CAI. At the funeral, where Greg gave an eulogy, he met a woman named Julia Bergman, who had seen his school on accident when stopping on a helicopter ride and the woman was determined to help, especially when she discovered that he wanted a library for korphe, and she was a librarian. Back at his house, Greg got a call one morning saying a fatwa had been declared on him. He quickly had to leave for Pakistan sooner than expected to try to sort out the problem, and because if it came itno effect it oculd prohibit him from further works, so he was desperate to build more schools. There he met with the Shia leader, Syed Abbas, and together they worked to overcome the mullah who had declared the fatwa on him and became tight allies. He also called together a group of men including Twaha, Hajia Ali, Mousafer, and others, and began formulating plans in nearby villages such Changazi’s and others. Soon 3 more schools had been built and Mortenson was flying around the Karakoram in a green jeep he had bought, delivering supplies and working to get things done. Back at Korhphe he established a vocational center for women an d seeing its positive and empowering effects, he was determined to build one wherever he built a school. Later, all his family and supports such as Julia Bergman came to Pakistan to see his schools and Korphe was finally dedicated. Everyone was amazed and Dr. Greg was revered throughout the area. One man who was caught leering at his wife was ostracized from society and the bodyguard was so enraged he beat him to a pulp and said he should’ve killed him. Finally, Greg returned home again, but he was already beginning how to fight Pakistan’s poverty.
Essential Question- Mortenson proves time and time again, that it truly is the individual that powers history. Yes, there is a little bit of evidence to the contray, for example, the drastic need for schools in Pakistan and Mortensons childhood and outside influences that have affected him, but it seems more and more that is the power of hte individual that truly drives history and change. The man declaring the fatwa upon Mortenson, he was only one man, but by that act he caused Mortenson to go into a frenzy of actibity to get schools built, not knowing how much freedom he would have to work. It was Jean Hoerni's decision to givve money to the CAI and fund Mortenson, directly influecning the building of schools in Pakistan. It is the effort of the individual that drives history, one only needs to read this book to find plenty of examples.
Connector- The importance of religion and how integrated it is in society in Pakistan is crazy. Here in the United States we don't give a whole lot of thought as to whether someone is catholic or ahteist or buddhist, religion doesn't really affect our interactions that much. but Pakistan, wow. For example, Greg and the fatwa that is declared on him. In the united states no church or religion has any sort of power to harm or prohibit a person from doing anything, but Pakistan, Islam is very important and plays a crucial role in society. Also with the idea of the different sects of Islam. There a huge conflicts between the shiites and sunni, resulting in armed conflicts and hostility all over. Here, we know nothing of it. People are persecuted because of their sexuality, or get in argumetns over political views, but religius influences are nearly absent as compared to Pakistan. Can you imagine if our country was divided up into all the different religions people follow, with set laws and regulations, it would be a nightmare. Thakfully we live in a secular society and don't have to owrry about it for the most part. Just how might Greg's task be different if it wasn;t for Islam's large influence?
Discussion Director through Chapter 19
Summary- At the beginning of chapter 16, Mortenson is traveling to hear the verdict about the fatwa. He entered the meeting fearing the worst, but instead walked away the blessing of the highest religious leaders in Iran, who praised his work and demanded no one interfere with him. Word of his approval and connection to the religious leaders spread throughout Batlistan and soon hundreds more of pleas and petitions were pouring in. Syed Abbas, the religious leader he worked with to overcome the fatwa and his good friend, worked with him to decide what villages needed help. Mortenson started developing programs to improve living conditions, fully aware that children had to survive past the age of one to even be able to enjoy a school. He began putting in pipes for clean water and training medical personnel and providing supplies for villages, which cut infant mortality rates dramatically and the overall health of the villages improved a ton. His porter Mousafer was growing old and Greg was determined to finish the school for him. Mousafer became respected for bringing the school to his people and was happy to help build it even though he was old and tired and when it was finished, he contentedly told Mortenson now he just wanted to give water to the trees, i.e. help the kids. A boy named Mohhamed Aslam Khan, son of the nurmadhar of a high mountain village, was sent off to a school down in the valley when he was young. He persevered for his people and returned educated and rather than accept a government post, he took over control of his village and was determined to repay his people for providing his education and wanted to do the same for them. He got roads built to the village and even a small schoolhouse, but it was only for girls. He heard of Mortenson and spent a year trying to contact and meet him. Together they built a school that all the children, girls and boys could attend, and opening up the door for education for the village girls. Eye problems were huge in Northern Pakistan so Greg brought in a doctor and trained another, which helped a lot. The CAI also put a huge emphasis on the enrollment of girls in schools and began only building schools for up to the 5th grade, because the boys always left and went into the world, whereas the girls stayed and used their knowledge to help the village. The CAI organized missions to teach the teachers and create a curriculum that was completely devoid of western influences or Islamic extremism. When the India-Pakistan Kargil conflict broke out, Greg was frantic. He wanted to help all the refugees suffering from the mass bombings who forced from their homes. He arrived where the refugees were camped. An hour away from the nearest water, in the middle of nowhere with no greenery, or anything. Soon an uplift water pump was built and a green and lush community was thriving. A lot of peoples had to hide in caves in constant fear of being shelled, and watched their villages be destroyed. One group of refugees, managed to travel to where Greg had began helping, and there they are today, the girls enjoying fine schools with a well-watered and healthy community. Back home, Mortenson was giving talks trying to raise money for the CAI’s dwindling funds. Sometimes he got huge crowds, sometimes he had an audience of 3 people. Often he got small donations, occasionally it could total up to a few hundred dollars, but sometimes he got lucky and would get thousand dollar donations. The CAI was getting frustrated with him though because he spent little time communicating with them, he was either with his family or engrossed in a project and didn’t take time to manage things back home. His wife kept telling him to get some exercise as he was getting overweight and he was completely consumed with getting money to fund the projects. He was desperate to find another rich donor to replace Hoerni. However, a lot of people just took advantage of him and used him as a prop or for personal reasons and gave him nothing. He was obsessed with the situation in northern Afghanistan as the Taliban pushed people out, and he was driving everyone crazy. However, they pushed through and that winter he had a son named Khyber Bishop Mortenson. When he returned to Pakistan, Mortenson was faced with a frightening reality. AL-Quada had begun establishing its own schools, madrassas that brainwashed the young in Islamic extremism of the wahhabi sect, basically creating the next generation of terrorists. Mortenson was at his bodyguards village dedicating a school in September with George McCown. That was where they heard the news that, a village called New York had been bombed. McCown was desperate to get home. Morteson eventually arranged for him to get out, the Pakistanis were very protective of them while they were there though. Then Greg went for his customary visit with Haji Ali. However, the old man had passed away that winter and now his son Twaha was the leader.
Essential Question- In this section, I saw more of an equilibrium between the individual creating history and events influencing the individual. Mortenson continues in his own vein of making decisions that forever alter other people’s lives. His determination to help the refugees from the Kargil conflict, his efforts and influence that gained him the backing of the Islamic religious leaders, etc. Outside events play a role, for example he can’t have done this stuff if the Kargil conflict never occurred etc., but as I said in a recent post, its like wood, it won’t burn without a fire. However, with the 9/11 attacks and the wahhabbi madrassas, there is some evidence as to how history creates the individual. With news of the terrorist attack on new York, McCown was driven to depsearate measures to try and get home, driven by a need to protect his family. Similarly, the students at the madrassas were influences by their teaching to hate America and the west and become the new generation of terrorists. They did not up an decided to become terrorists, they were taken to the schools and their brainwashed by the wahhabi doctrine. As you can see, history effects the individual and vice versa. It all depends on the individual and the event happening.
Discussion Questions-
1. What do you think Mortenson would have done if the news in the red box had been different concerning the fatwa?
2. Do you think the madrassas being established will hinder Mortenson’s projects?
3. What did you think of the author using the stories of Pakistani natives and then how Mortenson entered their lives and helped them?
4. Do you think the people at CAI are unfairly critical of Mortenson? How is the stress and turmoil affecting him?
5. What did you think of his efforts back home to raise money? Do you think the CAI will be able to continue to function? How do peoples treatments of him at home and in Pakistan differ?
6. With the 9/11 attacks, how do you think Mortenson’s projects might be affected?
7. How does Haji Ali’s death and final parting message affect Mortenson?
8. How can we see more of history influencing the individual in this chapter?
Passage Master through Chapter 21 5/21
With the war in Afghanistan begun, reporters flocked like flies to a midden to the marriot in Islamabad where Mortenson usually met to conduct business with foreign investors so as to give them a place to adjust. The reporters were ging wild, publishing all sorts of stories and trying to get facts from Mortenson, who stressed again and again how education is the way to fight terrorism and most of the people are not enemies of America, but all the media wanted was news to make devils out of the Taliban leaders and paint terrible pictures of Afghanistan. Local leaders of the Taliban met daily at the hotel and one evening, Greg sat down and talked with them. They were very political in their responses regarding education and when he asked aobut the war, they though they could still avoid it. These men had education, unlike the larger leaders of the Taliban, who were often uneducated or only had a madrassa education. They were clearly proven wrong however, as soon American planes were bombing the country far and wide. When the Taliban destroyed his passport and he had to get another one, he ended up needing to go to the American embassy. When they saw all is VISAs, he was interrogated by intelligence officers thinking he was possibly located to Osama and Al-Qaeda before he was given a passport.When he returned home, the news he received was devastating. Many people lauded his efforts, but others who had read what he said to the reporters in Pakistan, clearly got the wrong message and believed all of the Muslim world to be hteir enemies and he got tons of hate-mail. However, he began doing a lot of talks and other people were very supportive and caught up in his message. One evening, he was disappointed at the small turnout, but as usual went through with it, and one of the women there was a republic congressman named Mary Bono, who then cgot him into congress and government to speak his message. Mortenson was furious with the military for the way tings were being handled in the middle-east. There were lots of civilian casualities and little was being done to help the innocent, all the resources were being used to hunt down the Taliban and innocents were suffering terribl from it. The city of Kabul was completely trashed, and there were very few functional schools, but Mortenson stepped right in and began helping out. Back in Pakistan, as anti-american sentiment increased,, he had some difficulty. One powerful village mullah destroyed one of the schools that was being built and declared a fatwa on Greg that was backed up by a local politician. Greg returned home and went straight to the government, determined to rectify the injustice done ot the innocents and redirect some of the funds to help them. The military offered him a couple million dollars, but he decided to refuse knowing that if he sided with the government, he would lose the peoples trust in the Middle East.
Essential Question- Our essential question asked if history makes the individual or the individual makes history. I honestly believe some people are born to make history, and some people are born to be influenced. For example, the principle of one of the schools in Kabul was born to make history. Through her actions, she organized schooling for the children and is a hero over there. Similarly, Mortenson is another such individual, his speeches caused waves in congress and drummed up support for his cause and his efforts in the Middle East to bring supplies and education helped thousands. Others however, let events influence them. For example, many Americans, because of 9/11 immediately became anti-muslim and hated all the Middle-East and anything to do with it as evidenced by the hate mail Greg received. Also,, the innocent civilians who are killed or lose everything because of the bombing. This thing really goes both ways, and it’s up the person to decide if they will make history, or let it make them.
Passage Master-
Bottom of Page, Last whole paragraph. I liked this passage because it shows how the Taliban and society in the Middle East simply expects women to bow down and let men trample all over them, but here is an American woman standing up for herself and totally going against everything these guys believe in and even criticizing them.
Last two whole paragraphs on 265 through top of 266. This passage is important because it really shows how the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan was really just another juicy story for the media to get ahold of spin out of control and make a good sounding story. They were all just fighting for the latest news and best cover and weren’t interested in what Mortenson had to say, they just wanted to drum up support for the war and paint the Afghan’s as villains.
Pg 267 4th paragraph. This passage is important because it talks bout the apparent lack of education in the Taliban. This one man knew what was going to happen, but hoped it could be avoided. But many of the higher ups only had madrassa educations or none whatsoever and were blissfully ignorant of how imperiled they really were and what sort of consequences their actions entailed. This passage only proves more rightly how Mortenson has said again and again that education is the key to eliminating terrorism.
Pg 272, really the whole talk with the intelligence officers, but especially the bottom middle of 272 where they ask Greg if he knows where Osama is. This passage shows just how desperate and out of control these people are. They’re snatching at anything and making wild assumptions in the hope to catch Osama, and its inhibiting their ability to make rational decisions. It seems so ludicrous that this gentle giant who is clearly well-informed and well known in the area is educating children to be terrorists. It’s kind of crazy just how America reacted to 9/11,
Top of pg 275 when Greg receives hate-mail. Once again this passage is important because it shows how easily American’s formed stereotypes and decided to wage all out war against the Middle East, lumping all Muslims and anything connected to them as terrible. It’s crazy and completely irrational, but unfortunately a true fact that probably a good half of our country is biased against these places now, even though the majority of the population has nothing to do with terrorism.
Middle 287, 2nd paragraph, taling aobut woman donating books. This passage is important because it shows the other side of the coin, that not everyone American believes every single person in the Middle East deserves to burn in hell. This woman lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks and rather than start a vendetta against the Taliban and all Muslim’s, she is donating his medical books to the impoverished and innocent doctors in Kabul to help them as they suffer from the side effects of the war.
Bottom of 288, top of 289. This part is important because it shows how our military was really just out to crush the Taliban. We preached helping to rebuild the nation, but when we went in it was wild and crazy just to hunt down and kill and just try to cover up any “collateral” damage and htats exactly the sort of thing Greg wanted to fight against the most when he went to speak to the military and congress.
3rd paragraph from bottom of 295. <mortenson decides to refuse donations from the military because he knows that in the peoples eyes, if he is connected with the American military they will lose fiath in him. He had the potential to build hundreds of schools with the money the military promised, but felt he could not accept it because, while it would be to the people’s benefit, they didn’t feel like the government was their friend after they had seen so much destruction and felt the violence of the attacks that were supposedly to kill the Taliban, but really were also hurting thousands of innocents.
Researcher to the end of the book 5/24
Summary- Greg was over in Pakistan helping a reporter to write a story about the high-altitude conflict between Pakistan and India. They were currently staying in Korphe and a meeting was going on in the town hall/residence place that Haji Ali had erected for Greg to stay in. Suddenly, in marches Twaha’s daughter Jahan and asks for money to pursue a further education in medical studies that Mortenson promised her years ago. This shows how far Greg’s work has gone for this girl to break all these traditions of men being in charge, being subservient, etc. to boldly march in and demand money and make such a bold statement as going to medical school, and when Greg tried to do it another time, she didn’t back down. Fedarko, the journalist, witnessed what Greg was doing and soon he had Greg on the front cover of 34 million copies of a magazine. Greg was inundated with positive mail and donation and soons the CAI’s dwindling bank balance had soared to over a million. Greg was elated and immediately began putting the money to work. First the CAI forced him to organize some things back home, like finally giving him a raise and renting and organizing an actual office. Then he was off to Pakistan. There he used the money to increase the salaries of the men who had helped him so often, such as Parvi, and began many new schools and even began a project to build a hostel in Skardu where girls could come and stay to get a further education with scholarship money sponsored by the CAI. He did encounter some obstacles. Some were simple and easily overcome, like one man refusing to take a lock off the school because he wanted more money. Other’s were more difficult, another attempt was made to destroy a new hemasil school and a fatwa was declared, but the shariat court overturned it and punished the agressors. Mortenson had an army general, Bhangoo helping him, who flew him all over the country, making his projects easier to manage. One day one of the generals became enraged over what the American military was doing. He and Greg discussed how the enemy is ignorance and America killing innocents was going about it all the wrong way, relationships needed to be established between the two peoples. Jahan and Tahira, the two first educated women in Baltistan, were striving along nicely. Jahan told Greg she didn’t want to just stop where she was, she asked for more money and said she was determined to open a hospital and be a “superwoman”. Mortenson was on his way to Badakshan and the Wakhan corridor, where he planned ot build schools for the horsemen he had promised years earlier. On the way there, he ment the old king of Afghanistan, who gave him his card and print and old him to present it to commander Khan. After touching down in Kabul, Greg had to drive the rest of the way, because the American’s denied him the use of a plane that was usually used to bring protein bars, ice cream, etc. to American operatives. It was a rough travel there. They were hungry most of the time as it was Ramadan, meaning there was a lot of fasting so they often missed mealtimes. First the radiator broke, but they managed to get a tow from a group of men and patched it back together. Then they were caught in the middle of an opium firefight, and he had to abandon his driver and ride in the back of a goat skin seller’s truck to the compound. There he arrived discovering he had lost the print of the king and smelling of goat skins. Seeing men driving in a jeep, where everyone else was lucky to have a mule, Greg approached them. The man driving turned out to be Commandhan Khan and when he discovered who Mortenson was, he was elated and immediately ordered a feast to be prepared. The two men began discussing schools, and Mortenson discovered there was a mountain of need to help that could very take him the rest of his life. He realized the personal sacrifice it would take and all the hard work, but he agreed and is still doing that work today.
Essential Question- Individuals are made by history and history makes individuals. Certainly some individuals cause greater waves in history while others are more content to simply let history influence them, but the two always coexist. Mortenson, because of his selfless, humanitarian, kind, personality determined to spend the rest of his life building schools for the children of Pakistan and Afghanistan and surely would have done whatever he could to accomplish that goal. However, events, such as his newfound popularity and money in America and the situation in the countries allowed him to do such a thing in the first place. There is no straight answer to this question, like most thought intensive
questions. Events and individuals influence one another to create the world and history as we know it.
Researcher-
CAI currently- 141 schools fully or partially supported
1200+ fully or partially supported teachers
School library projects
824 graduates from Porter Training Program
Teacher Training Workshops
58,000 students educated, including 40,000 girls
Women’s Vocational Centers
Women’s Literacy Centers
Women’s NGO assistance and training
Infant Oral Rehydration Training
Rural Women’s Vocational Fund
Maternal health care scholarships
Eye technician scholarships
24+ potable water projects
Water Filtration System
3,000+ cataract eye surgery patients
Sanitation and Latrine Projects
Rural Health Care Camp
Zahir Shah- king of Afghanistan for around four decades before the Taliban came in. Many people wanted him to be reinstated as leader, but the US backed Karzai was given control instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Zahir_Shah
Here is the Parade article about Mortenson that garnered him so much publicity and donors.
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2003/edition_04-06-2003/Greg_Mortenson
Greg has been nominated for the nobel peace prize twice, in 2009 and 2010, and is believed to have been one of the finalists